Mandy Farmer, who blogs on The Bowels of Motherhood, frequently writes about raising her three children, one of whom has autism.

In her latest post - The Two Words You Can Say to Someone Facing a New Diagnosis - the mother discusses her son's early diagnosis, as well as how she felt when the children of two of her friends were going through the diagnosis process.

She wrote: "As seasoned and experienced as I'm feeling as of late, I was caught off guard when two friends recently started going through the diagnosis process with their children and I didn't know what to say."

Mandy and her son

Farmer wrote: "I think I found myself tongue-tied because all I could think about was all of the things not to say."

After putting a lot of thought into the matter, Farmer said she found the "two simple and perfect words" you can say to parent, which are: "I'm here".

Farmer gave examples of phrases she didn't find helpful, including: "I'm sorry", "he'll be fine" and "but he seems so normal", and other parents of children with autism agree with her on some of these points.

Blogger Lauren Casper also says the phrase "he seems so normal" is something she finds frustrating.